


Walking In The Raine

by Panicitsamelon



Category: Hogwarts Professors - Fandom
Genre: Hogwarts OC, Hogwarts Professors, Insomnia, Sleep Walking, Strangers to Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 22:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20628737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panicitsamelon/pseuds/Panicitsamelon
Summary: Professor Darling meets Professor Regina Raine, Professor Raine's squib sister, in a series of strange circumstances.





	Walking In The Raine

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd  
Let me know if there are errors. This is pretty much a first draft.  
Thanks!

Professor Gracie Darling wasn’t sure how she ended up on the floor of the fourth floor professor’s washroom, but she did know the woman standing above her, dressed in pajamas, a floral cardigan, and a hand in a bag of potato chips. She’d seen Professor Raine’s sister a few times in passing, but they’d never officially met. She didn’t even know her first name. She was pretty sure she taught muggle studies.

“Comfy down there?” The woman asked, putting the bag down and wiping her hand on the yellow shorts decorated with little cartoon frogs.

Gracie didn’t know quite what to say to that.

Professor Raine squinched her eyes shut and shook her head. “Wait. Sorry. I’m on a shit ton of melatonin right now so my brain isn’t working right.” She kneeled down, eyes checking her over. “Are you all right? I don’t see any obvious wounds, but you could have a concussion.”

Gracie finally found her voice then. “I don’t think I do. Nothing seems to hurt.”

Professor Raine’s face lit up. “Great!” She held out a hand which Gracie took, gratefully. 

Gracie brushed herself off once she was on her feet. She was wearing the pajamas she had put on before bed. Had she slept walk? Her room was nowhere near the fourth floor washrooms.

Professor Raine didn’t seem to be paying much attention. She picked up the bag of chips and then held them out towards Gracie. 

Gracie shook her head and Raine shrugged, putting a handful into her mouth and somehow still managing to chew with it closed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to remember your name.” 

“Oh!” Raine wiped her hands on the increasingly greasy shorts and held it out. “Professor Raine, Regina, Rufus’ sister.”

Gracie hoped she managed to hide her distaste and shook her hand quickly. “Well, thank you. I should probably return to bed now.”

“Yup. See you later.”

Gracie gave her a tight smile and made her way out of the washrooms, trying to come up with ways she could have ended up so far from her bed.

~~~

The second time Gracie met Professor Regina Raine, she was looking for a student who had forgotten their wand in her last class. She could hear Raine’s voice long before she got to the classroom. 

“Okay my dudes, I got like zero sleep last night, so, since we’re studying muggle educational systems, I’m gonna put on  _ Degrassi _ for your learning experience.” 

When she got to the room, Professor Raine was sitting at the desk, feet up and an actual pillow covering her face. Next to her a few, rather dramatic teenagers were being projected onto a white sheet.

Gracie cleared her throat.

“Oh sh-” Professor Raine flailed, somehow managing to fall out of the chair and land on the floor.

The students didn’t even flinch, but returned to watching the screen. 

Professor Raine got to her feet and quickly came to Gracie’s side. “Yes? Is there something I can do for you?” then added, after a breath, “I swear I don’t always put on movies.”

Gracie blinked. Just what kind of woman was Regina Raine? Gracie knew Rufus had a flair for dramatic, but he was composed bordering on elegant, but Regina? Regina seemed to be a bit of a mess. Instead of saying so, Gracie shook herself and said, “I have Blair Wills’ wand. She left it last period.”

Professor Raine bobbed her head quickly. “Oh, okay,” then turned, shouting “Blair Bear! You forgot your wand again?”

Gracie saw the student perk up and check her robes, and then hurry over to the two professors. Her cheeks were flushed. “Sorry, Professor Darling, for making you come all the way over here.”

Gracie gave her a soft smile and gave the girl her wand. “It’s not a problem.”

Blair turned to go but Professor Raine put a hand on her shoulder. “How many times this week? More than twice?”

Gracie was about to protest, worried she would embarrass the girl, but Blair spoke before she could.

“Seven.” 

Professor Raine squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “Just a minute.” She hurried quickly back to her desk and putting a drawstring bag on top. She then began to dig through it, pulling out a few books, a fleece blanket, another pillow, and then finally a small glass orb that glowed red in her grasp. “Aha!”

When she came back she placed it in Blair’s hand, the red smoke fading to clear. “This thing is always red when I hold it. It’s better off in your hands.”

Blair smiled, holding it tight to her chest. “Thank you, Regina.”

Professor Raine ruffled the girl’s hair. “All right, all right. Go and watch the show.”

Blair gave another quick thanks to Gracie and hurried back to her seat.

Gracie wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised about the rememberall or the fact a student just called Professor Raine Regina. 

Which Professor Raine seemed to pick up on because she said, “It’s easier this way, since Rufus always go by Professor Raine. Also, all the cool teachers go by their first names, well, actually they usually go by just their last names, but again, my brother so…You can just call me Regina too...” She trailed off.

Gracie just nodded slowly, still trying to process all that was Profess-  _ Regina  _ Raine.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” Regina asked, adjusting the floral cardigan on her shoulders.

“What? Oh, no. Thank you.”

Regina smiled. “Well, thank you for bringing Blair’s wand up. She’ll need it next period.”

“Of course. Wait… did you call her Blair Bear?”

Regina look puzzled then laughed quickly. “Yeah, actually. When I first met her she was in Rufus’ class and had managed to turn her familiar into a very small bear. It was cute. She said she didn’t mind the nickname, so it stuck.”

Gracie smiled, Professor Raine had told her about that. Apparently it had hidden beneath the students’ robes so it wouldn’t have to be turned back into a toad. 

Gracie straightened her jacket. “Well then, enjoy the rest of your class.” 

“Will do. I think this episode is when Manny tries to be a badass.”

~~~

The third time they met, Professor Darling woke up lying in a bed that was not her own. The room smelled like lemongrass and something that gave the feeling of home. Something warm and furry was laying at her side.

Before she could jump up and scramble across the room, the door opened and Regina came in, a glass of water in her hand. “Oh, you’re up! Good.”

Gracie blinked the sleep out of her eyes before sitting up and taking the cup offered to her. 

“Sorry about, Moose, there. I told him he couldn’t get up on the bed while you were sleeping, but he’s a bit stubborn.” Regina bustled around the room, shoving clothes into a pile and partially destroyed dog toys into a basket.

Gracie looked down at the sleeping form next to her as she drank the water. Moose was a large dog, a mutt of some sort with a big head and chest. He snored quietly, paws twitching as he dreamed. Gracie took stock of herself before she spoke. “I assume that this is your room then?”

“What?” Regina looked up, throwing something in the trash bin.

“Your room? I assume that’s where we are now.”

“Oh! Yes! Sorry. Again, melatonin makes my head weird.” Regina, sat in a well loved armchair, back against the arm and legs thrown over the other.

“Melatonin?” Gracie found herself unconsciously petting the dog at her side.

“Yup,” Regina said, popping the P, “I can’t take sleeping draughts because they mess with my head…” she paused, “even more than the melatonin.”

Gracie just nodded, something that seemed to be common whenever she was around Professor Regina Raine. 

It was quiet for a moment, just the sound of breathing and soft snores.

“I found you in the astronomy tower.” Regina said quietly.

Great. The night before Gracie had woken up in the Great Hall and the week before near the dungeons. Gracie sighed. “Well, thank you for bringing me back here.”

“I have insomnia, so I tend to wander at night when the drugs don’t help.” Regina shrugged. “Plus, It wasn’t too hard. I used to carry Rufus to bed when he fell asleep reading. My room was closer, I hope you don’t mind.”

Gracie shook her head and they were both quiet again. She pat the dog once more and then swung her legs off the side of the bed. “Well thanks again.”

Regina nodded. “I’ll walk you back.”

“Oh, you don’t need to,” Gracie started quickly.

“It’s fine. I didn’t finish my walk earlier.”

They left the room, leaving Moose to spread out on the bed. Gracie quickly realized that they weren’t in any of the house lodgings. Instead they were in a small area at the base of the astronomy tower.

“Why do you-”

“I’m a squib.” Regina interrupted, “I don’t have a house.”

Gracie was shocked, not about her being a squib, she remembered Professor Raine mentioning one of his sisters didn’t have magic, but that no one had assigned her a house. But the obvious tension in the way Regina was walking prevented her from saying anything.

They made the way back to the hufflepuff commons in silence. Gracie thanked her once more before returning. Regina had just nodded and then silently continued on her way, the same floral cardigan wrapped tightly around her.

Gracie fell immediately into bed on her return. Questions filled her head, but her body was tired. She could think about the sleep walking and Regina’s behavior in the morning.


End file.
